The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday dismissed a retired air force officer’s petition seeking disability pension on account of the obesity and hypertension he suffered due to service conditions.

“Obesity cannot be attributed to service conditions but a lifestyle that includes eating and drinking habits,’’ a bench of justices Arun Mishra and MR Shah said. “How can your service be the reason for your obesity? It could be because of excessive drinking also.”

The SC upheld the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT)’s verdict that found no fault with a medical board’s report discharging the petitioner, Gyanendra Singh, without any disability pension.

“Obesity has nothing to do with your service. It is connected with food habits,” justice Shah remarked.

Singh’s lawyers, Anant Aggarwal and Shweta Rani, insisted that their client suffered from the problems because of the service conditions. The judges remained unconvinced and refused to accept Singh’s appeal.

The medical board had earlier held that service did not aggravate the disabilities, including Impaired Glucose Tolerance, Singh suffered.

In February 2019, the AFT referred to several research journals and held that obesity is common among those who do not exercise dietary discipline or undertake physical exercise. “They remain in sedentary position all the time,” it said.

Singh submitted the disabilities were the result of “stress and strain during the service period as he was found mentally fit at the time of his enrolment.”

“Therefore, the disability caused is outrightly attributed and aggravated to service only,” his petition said. Also, he participated in various operations for which he was frequently transferred to remote postings and was forced to live away from his family.

In his appeal before the SC, Singh questioned the medical board’s report and said he was not provided with medical documents at the time of his discharge, stating the reason in support of its finding.

Singh, who joined the service as an airman and worked for over 39 years before he was discharged as an honorary flying officer, said there was nothing on record to show that he suffered from the disability at the time of joining.

First Published: Jul 08, 2019 23:03 IST